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ADDRESSES 



ON »rHB 



DEATH OF HON. JAMES A. PEARGE. 



UEMVERED IN THE 



SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



ON 



TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1863. 



WASHINGTON: 

OOVKRNMKNT I'RINTINO OFFICE. 

1 f* I! :', . 



: m 

ADDRESSES 



ox THE 



DEATH OF HON. JAMES A. PEARCE, 



DELIVEKLD IN THE 



SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRBSENTATIVES, 



ox 



TUESDAY, JANUARV 13, 1.'63 



WASHINGTON": 
G V E n S .•« K N T r U I N T I N G K F I C F. . 

18G3. 






<B- g 



^211^ 



Y3 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

TuuBSDAT, February 12, 18G3. 
Resolved, That ten thousand copies of the eulogies on the life and character 
of the Hon. James A. Peahce, delivered iu the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives, be printed for the use of this House. 

Attest : 

EM. ETHERIDGE, Clerk. 



Bictianfro 
Weet. Bee. Hln. Soc. 



B 






ADDRESSES 



ON THE 

DEATH OF HON. JAMES A. PEAIICE. 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 

Tuesday, Jaxuart 13, 1863. 



Address of Mr. Kennedy, of Maryland. 

Mr. President : The portals of the tomb have 
scarcely closed over a late honored associate and col- 
league, when again the grim messenger of death has 
entered this chamber and taken from its deliberations a 
bright and leading light, one whose long and exemplary 
service had secured the respect and consideration of this 
body ; a faithfLd guardian of the high trusts reposed in 
him; always a defender of the right, an enlightened 
counsellor, and a wise and comprehensive statesman. 

Sir, the melancholy duty has devolved on me to 
announce the death of my late distinguished friend and 
colleague, the Hon. James Alfred Pearce, long a sen- 
ator in Congress from the State of IMaryland. He died 
at his residence in Chestertown, Kent county, on the 
21st of December, 1862, in the fifty-eighth year of his 
age, after a long and painful illness, which kept him 
from his seat the greater part of the last session. For 
the last six months of his life he had but little alleviation 
from intense suffering, and but little hope of relief, save 



6" 



ill the repose of the silent tonil). Neither skill nor the 
tenderness of affection could stay the cold hand of death. 
In the hour of his country's greatest need, while the 
ruthless shock of civil war was forcing the very strong- 
holds of its liberty ; in the full vigor of a ripened intel- 
lect; in the midst of his powers for usefulness, his sun 
has gone down forever, and all that was mortal of that 
wise and trusted senator has descended to the grave. 

In oifering this feel)le tribute of my respect and 
appreciation for his character and endowments I shall 
not intrude upon the solemn occasion any elaborate 
exposition of his political opinions, or lengthened eulogy 
upon the many excellencies of his character, but follow 
a sacred custom in l)riefly tracing the principal points 
and facts of his life, through a career of honorable dis- 
tinction and usefulness. 

Mr. Peakce was the son of Gideon Pearce, esq., of 
Kent countj^ Maryland, but was born at the residence 
of his grandfather, Dr. E. C. Dick, in Alexandria, Vir- 
ginia, on the 14th of December, 1805. His paternal 
ancestors were of Scottish origin, and came to the 
province of Maryland about the year 1670, and held 
many positions of distinction and intluence from that 
early j)eriod in the history of our State. He manifested 
many of the traits of his Scottish progenitors, and in 
none more than the steady perseverance which marked 
his whole life in the attainment of high objects. This 
was no less shown in his earliest days than in the later 
})L'ri()(ls of his lir(\ when di.scharging the responsible 
duties of his public station. So thorough had been his 
])rrpniati()n for college, under the tuition of an eminent 
10, ^ig 



master at Alexandria, and so great was his aptness and 
application, that he entered Princeton College at a period 
when most boys are just beginning the higher studies 
of an academic course. He was admitted to his first 
degree at the early age of seventeen, having graduated 
with the highest honors of his class, which comprised 
many names since distinguished in the various depart- 
ments of science and learning throughout the country. 
Subsecpiently he studied law, and was admitted to the 
bar in 1824. 

After this he resided a short period in Louisiana, l)ut 
returning to Maryland he was elected to a seat in the 
House of Delegates of that State in 1831. Though too 
young and modest to assume a leading part, it was the 
commencement of a political career such as few attain 
to, and such as any might well be proud of In 1835 
he was elected to represent his district in Congress, and 
re-elected for a second term, ending in 1839. For the 
succeeding Congress he was defeated by Hon. Philip 
Francis Thomas, afterward governor of the State — but 
was again retunied in 1841, and served until 1843. 
During this period he acquired much reputation by his 
general course in the popular branch of Congress, but 
especially by his report on the question of refunding the 
fine imposed upon General Jackson. This brought him 
so prominently before the people of his State that he 
was elected that year (1843) to a seat in the Senate of 
the United States, to succeed Hon. John Leeds Kerr. 
From that date he was successively re-elected in 1849, 
1854, and 1861; his term consequently would not have 
expired until 1867 — thus having given to his country, in 



the national councils, twenty-five years of service to its 
best interests, never charged with the reproach of narrow 
partisanship or sectional motives, but at all times acting 
under the inliuence of a broad and comprehensive 
American statesmanshi[). 

Mr. President, it may be a fact worthy of recording 
in this hasty sketch of my late colleague, that he never 
was defeated in any contest for })ublic station or prefer- 
ment, by the people or legislature of his State, from the 
first struggle for the honors of his college class, down to 
his last re-election to this body, with the exception of 
one term in the House of Representatives, which I have 
already named. 

This is the summary of the public ser^'ice of Mr. 
Pearce; and however prominent it may stand out, he 
yet was marked in other spheres of life. Xofwitli- 
standing the duties of his public position, which he 
raithiidly discharged, he was never neglectful of the 
practice of his profession, in which he held high rank, 
and was eminently successful. He was Professor of Law 
in Washington College, at Chestertown. He was further 
lionored ^^^th the degree of Doctor of Laws, conferred 
ujxdi him ])}' the College of St. James, in Maryland, and 
also l>y his ancient Alma Mater, the college of Princeton. 
His (pudifications fi)r high judicial station were so well 
esteemed that he was ottered, at one time, a seat on the 
bench of the United States district court for the State 
ol" ]\[arvland. He was afierwards, iluriniif the same 
presidential term ol" ^[r. Fillmore, nominated and con- 
lirmt'd bv the Senate as Secretary t)f the Literior, which 
distinguished mark oi" a})preciation he also declined, pre- 



ferriiig to remain in the Senate, where his sphere of 
usefulness was more extended, and more in consonance 
with his tastes and studies. As a friend of science and 
the promotion of knowledge, he was appointed a regent 
of the Smithsonian Institute shortly after its establish- 
ment, which post he held to the day of his death. For 
seventeen years of his service in the Senate he was at 
the head of the Joint Committee on the Library of Con- 
gress, and, by his scholarly tastes and discriminating 
judgment, has contributed much to its present enlarged 
condition of usefulness. 

ilr. Peaece was a man of varied tastes and acquire- 
ments, combining in a greater degree, perhaps, than 
ahnost any public man of his times, the learning of the 
statesman and jurist witli that of the accomplished 
scholar. He was fond of paintings and music ; was 
gifted with a fine voice, with vvhich at times he chaniied 
the social circle, as he always did by the finished style 
of his conversation. He was much given to the pursuits 
of agriculture, and took a deep interest in all that per- 
tained to its scientific advancement. He cultivated with 
great success fruits and flowers. Indeed, so general was 
his information, so cultivated was his intellect, and so 
thoroughly national and broad were his political views, 
that his reputation was not long confined to the limits 
of his State, but attracted such consideration among the 
galaxy of distinguished men who grew up with the 
whig party, that upon more than one occasion his 
name was pubhcly canvassed in connexion with the 
presidency of the United States. In politics ]Mr. Pearce 
had always been a leading and prominent member of the 

i) m 



•m 



OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 



wliig party, aiid advocated its doctrines till it ceased to 
exist, in 1852. From that period to his death he 
co-operated with the democratic party, consistently 
maintaining to the last those high principles by which 
he thought the Constitution could only be enforced, and 
through it a free representative government of equal 
States preserved. 

It was during the excited scenes of 1850, when the 
territorial rpiestion had aroused a fearful sectional spirit, 
when Clay and Webster stood hand in hand to resist the 
storm and avert the perils that threatened our common 
country, that Mr. Pearce made, perhaps, the most signal 
effort of his senatorial career, in carrying an amendment 
to the memorable compromise measures which changed 
the oriijinal bill, after a most excited debate, and against 
the most vehement opposition of Mr. Clay, who reported 
them. 

Generally averse to speaking, he suffered himself at 
times to rest under the imputation of an unwillingness to 
meet responsibility; when at others he would throw 
himself into the arena and encounter the boldest and 
ablest leaders of the times. He was no orator in the 
popular sense; his sphere was among men of intellect; 
his Ibrce was in convrncini)[ the minds of the cultivated 
and intelligent, rather than by fervid declamation to 
sway or excite the multitude. He never sought to sub- 
vert the judgment of the people by inllaming their 
passions. 

]Mr. President, it is no slight evidence of high merit 
\\\u'\\ a comparatively young man could carry a measure 
against the dictation and power of such a parly Itnidcr 

m — -(Q) 



as Henry Clay, or acquire a national reputation at a 
period when giant intellects were struggling for party 
ascendancy; when Clay and Webster, Calhoun and 
Benton, and other great lights, swayed the measures 
and policy of the country; yet, sir, he achieved tliat 
triumph; and while he was always regarded wdth just 
pride by his State, there were many occasions in the 
stormy times of the old whig contlicts when public 
sentiment acknowledged the enlightened conservatism 
of his statesmanship. He comprehended fully the com- 
plex character of our government, and in the support 
of measures he looked only to high principles. His aim 
was to develop the great interests of his country; to 
elevate it to the highest summit of a just and duraljle 
glory. Whatever errors of opinion may have been 
ascribed to Inm by persons of different political senti- 
ments, the most earnest of his opponents have never 
found occasion to breathe a suspicion against his in- 
tegrity. He had the most scrupulous regard lor truth ; 
and his social and frank nature, his fine manners and 
great conversational powers made him an attractive 
and instructive companion, wdiile no man was more 
sincere and true in his friendships. 

As a senator, he illustrated and adorned the high posi- 
tion so often conferred upon him by his State; he was 
dignified and courteous; his elevated moral sense was 
universally acknowledged ; and the records of our ])arlia- 
mentary history will transmit his name in conspicuous 
association with the long hst of leading men who im- 
pressed their views upon the policy of the country, and 



will preserve to posterity many enduring memorials of 
his enlightened service and exalted patriotism. 

Mr. President, in concluding this imperfect and hasty 
sketch of our late associate, it will be gratifying to his 
friends to know that no clouds overhung his future, but 
that his pathway to the grave was brightened l)y the 
hopes of a blissful immortality; and in placing upon 
record the assurance of the complete and comprehensive 
religious behef he died in, I am permitted to say that his 
mind was so set upon the safety of his soul that it 
allowed no contending thoughts l)eyond those which the 
unhappy condition of the country could not fail to bring 
before one so tmly devoted to its best interests, and so 
truly distressed at the perils Mhich surround it. 

He often expressed the only regret he had in death 
was that he could not exhibit to the associates of his 
public life the new^ light which he deemed not merely of 
vital importance to every man, but of inestimable value 
to every walk in life — not less to the statesman than to 
the minister of the Gospel. "And to add greater hon- 
ors to his age than man could give, he died fearing 
God." 

Thus, Mr. President, lived and died a virtuous states- 
man and a Christian gentleman. 

Mr. President, I offer the iollowing resolutions: 

Uc.wlvcd, That the Senate of the Unittd States has received 
w.iili the deepest sensibility tlie announcement of the death of Hon. 
.Ia.mf,s Alfuei) Pkauce. 

llvsolccd, That as an additional mark nf respect to the mcmoi y 
iif the deceased, the members and ollicers of the Senate will wear 
the usual badjxe of iiKiuining for thirly days. 

IS a i 



Resolved, That, as a further mark of respect for tlic memory of 
the deceased, the Senate do now adjourn. 

Onlercd, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to 
the House of Representatives. 



Address of Mr. Bayard, of Delaware. 

Mr. President : Perhaps it might be questioned 
whether the custom of announcing formally the death 
of those senators who die during the recess of Con- 
gress, or while absent from Washington, is altogether 
advisable aud free from objections: but while it exists, 
no man's memory is better entitled to its just tribute 
than that of the deceased senator from Maryland. 

]My acquaintance with Mr. Pearce before I became a 
member of this body was so slight, and our intercourse 
had been so casual and transient, that, though an admirer 
of his public course, even while we were members 
of opposing parties, I did not fully estimate the extent 
of his capacity and his value to his country. 

In this body, for now nearly twelve years, I have had 
better opportunities for observation, and my admiration 
and confidence have grown with my knowledge of the 
man. 

or an integrity beyond even a suspicion, he was 
eminently a statesman, and a conservative statesman. 
Highly educated, devoted to his country and his duties, 
he l)rought to the consideration of public affairs an en- 
larged intellect, acute discrimination, and jn'ofound 
knowledge, and, what is tar more rare, a sound judg- 
ment, unbiased by prejudice or passion. 



83 — 




In debate on any subject which he discussed, he was 
hstened to with attention, and commanded that confi- 
dence and weight in our dehberations to which he was 
so justly entitled. Always clear and logical in his argu- 
ment, his appeals were to our reason, not to our passions 
or pr(>judices. Though, perhaps, not a brilliant debater, 
his calm clearness, his moderation of language, and 
thorough knowledge of the subject under discussion, 
made him a formidable opponent, and gave him a weiirht 
and inlhience in the conduct of public affairs seldom 
exceeded. 

His love of country and high sense of duty were be- 
yond cpiestion. The courtesy of a gentleman also char- 
acterized his intercourse with his fellow senators in 
this hall, and in social hfe I can recall no instance in 
which he uttered language wounding or irritating to the 
feelings of those whom he opposed in debate. In social 
intercourse his intelligence, varied knowledge, and ame- 
nity made him an agreeable and instructive companion. 
Such is my estimate of our departed colleague. 

His loss to his State and his country may not at first, 
amidst the daily occurrence of exciting events, be fully 
realized, but will be felt in the future, and his State Mill 
find it difficult to replace him by an equal. To his 
family and friends tliat loss is irreparable: but leaves the 
melauclioly consolation, that when so able, so good, and 
so upright a man dies, the loss is not to him. but to 
thos(.' who survive. I have always fancied there was 
niiu'li of truth in the savinjj of the ancients, ''Oj^ oi ^so: 
'i>:/.vj<T:u, a-oi/ur^axec uso::;" and though our Colleague did not 
die a young man, yet he was called from us in the lull 



£1]^ 



maturity of his powers, with the confidence of his coun- 
try estabUshed by his past services and career. Cut off 
thus by the inscrutable providence of God in the me- 
ridian of his capacity for protection to his family and ser- 
vice to his country, it may be well for us if his death 
brings liome to our gravest rellections the transitory 
nature of human existence, and the utter vanity of 
human ambition. 

Mr. President, the Senate may possess in the future, 
as in the past, more eloquent debaters than my deceased 
friend from Maryland, but we shall look in vain for a 
sounder judgment, better balanced intellectual and moral 
qualities, or more reflective and enlightened statesman- 
ship, than was combined in James Alfeed Peakce. 



Address of Mr. Fessendex, of Maine. 

Mr. President: I knew the late Senator Pearce 
well. Members of the twenty-seventh Congress in 
the House of Representatives, and belonging to the 
same political party, our relations, though not intimate, 
were friendly; and I could not fail to recognize in 
him a careful and logical thinker, an accomplished 
scholar, and a most courteous and agreeable gentleman. 
Returning to Congress after a long absence, I found him 
occupying a most distinguished position in the Senate, 
and tilling a large space in the public eye. Still mem- 
bers of the same political party, we met only to renew 
and strengthen our friendly relations. At that precise 
period, however, was pending a measure, destined to 



■H 



sever political ties, separate personal friends, engender 
and inibitter sectional controversies, and finally, in its 
consequences, to afford the pretext for a long contem- 
plated effort to overthrow the government and destroy 
the Union, leading to all the horrors of civd war, in its 
most dire and destructive form. You will, of course, 
understand, sir, that I allude to the repeal of the Mis- 
souri restriction. Of that repeal, Senator Pearce, though 
in one sense a supporter, was not an advocate. I feel jus- 
tified in saying that, however he might have felt com- 
pelled to countenance that most disastrous measure, he 
lamented its introduction, foresaw many of its evils, and 
had no sympathy either with its authors or their 
purposes. 

Of the time wliich has since elapsed I have only to 
remark, in this conijcxion, that it placed us, politically, 
wide as the poles asunder. We were in opposite cur- 
rents, and they bore us daily further and fin-ther apart. 
A southern man and a slaveholder, he became, whether 
from necessity or choice, a jiarticipator in tlie consequent 
struggle for permanent southern ascendancy; and truth 
compels me to admit that most of the series of measures 
which marked that struggle received his co-operation. 
There were occasions, however, when, shaking from his 
limbs both sectional and party shackles, he disdained to 
violate his sense of right in obedience to the l)chests of 
jnirty or section. Of such occasions instances migiit 
easily he found, and some of them are probably within 
the recollection of many senators now present. 

An event approached which was to lln-ow into the 
shade all previous epochs in the liistor^^ of this nation. 



•m 



HON. JAMES A. PEARCE. 15 

The evil seed, industriously sown by designing and 
wicked men, sprang forth at last, and jiroduced its deadly 
fruit. The pernicious doctrines taught by the apostles 
of treason, under the names of nullification first, and 
secession afterwards, culminated in open rebellion. 
The leaders of that rebellion were many of them his 
jiersonal, and all of them his political friends. They 
claimed to be acting in defence of an institution vital to 
their weliarc, and in which all had a common interest. 
They claimed, moreover, that their common rights were 
in danger of utter overthrow and consequent annihila- 
tion, and called upon all exposed to the common peril 
for aid, either in the council or iu the field. Gigantic 
in its proportions, the rel^ellion was prepared with a 
skill, burst forth with a fury, and was conducted with a 
vigor, which, notwithstanding its colossal strength, has 
shaken our national edifice to its base. I am, however, 
happy in the belief that at no time did this horrible 
crime against humanity receive either comitenance or 
sympathy from the senator of whom I am speaking. 
Southern man though he was, and closely allied to the 
south by family and friendly ties, his clear and logical 
intellect was never clouded or confused for a moment by 
the meretricious jargon with which treason strove to 
cover its deformities ; nor was his heart, strained as it 
undoubtedly was by the rending asunder of so many 
cords, perverted from its allegiance. Failing in health, 
and conscious that the destroyer's hand was upon him, 
he gave to his country all his remaining strength. To 
the government, though not of his choice, he yielded a 
steady, unfaltering, and liberal support — not timidly and 



&• 



grudgingly, but man fully and generously. Though disap- 
proving, as a constitutional lawyer, of measures which 
the Executive believed to be essential, he did not reserve 
all his indignation for tliem, while finding no words of 
rebuke for infinitely greater sins. His courage was not 
of that anomalous character which sees no terror in the 
comet as it rushes athwart the sky — 

" And from its horrid hair 
Shakes pestilence and war," 

while it trembles at every falling star. 

I have said that I was happy in the belief that at no 
time since the commencement of this srreat struffde was 
he of whom I speak untrue to his trust. My satisflic- 
tion has its origin ])articular]y in the fact that, notwith- 
standing all difibrence of opinion and diversity of action, 
our personal relations always remained of the most 
friendly character. To daily intercourse in the Senate 
was more recently added constant and frequent associa- 
tion upon two connnittees. It was not possible that 
such intercourse and association with Senator Peakce 
should fail to create a high estimation of his capacity as 
a legislator, while they developed cjualities of mind and 
ti-aits of character eminently striking and attractive. 
Long a member of the Committee on Finance, and assid- 
uous in the discharge of his duties, no man was better 
vnsed in the financial history of his country, more 
thoroughly comprehended its resources, or was more 
Ihniiliar with its wants. Economical from principle and 
habit, convinced that a lavish expenditure was of evil 
tendency in nations as in individual alfairs, and conscien- 

1^ ; U 



lions in the discharge of piibhc as of private trusts, he 
was scrupulously careful of the public money. Ikit he 
was too broad a statesman and too well aware of national 
obligations and necessities to be mean or niggardly. 
There was nothing local or sectional in his legislation. 
With him the voice of justice was potent, and he obeyed 
Ihat voice as willingly when borne upon a northern as a 
southern breeze. 

Chairman for many years of the Committee on the 
Library, his associates on that committee enjoyed a com- 
panionship with him no less jileasing than instructive. 
Distinguished as a scholar in early life, thoroughly im- 
bued with a love of letters and of science, delighting in 
l)ooks, he had read much and well upon a great variety 
of subjects. An accurate and painstaking lawyer, his 
mind was disciplined to logical exactness. Fond of the 
beautiful in all its forms, and quick to discern it, his taste, 
naturally good, had been highly and carefully cultivated. 
He loved poetry and painting and sculpture and music 
and flowers. It is not singular that, thus organized, he 
should have felt and manifested a deep interest in what- 
ever tended to enlarge the boundaries of knowledge, and 
to increase the sum of human enjoyment — that the 
Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the 
Coast Survey, the Botanic Garden, our exploring and 
scientific expeditions, the adornment of the Capitol, all 
should have experienced his fostering care, and found in 
him an advocate and a friend. 

Thus bringing to the discharge of his duties a rare 
intelligence and a highly cultivated intellect, trained and 
disciplined in the forum, fluent and easy of speech, grace- 



■iS 



■© 



18 OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 

fill in manners, and of a winning a^ldress, speaking 
always directly to the point in debate, our late associate 
early attained and always held an enviable position among 
the most prominent members of this body. No one 
ever presumed less upon such well-earned honors. A liable 
and courteous, he was careful not to offend by word or 
manner. Quick to resent an aifront, and exacting the 
respect due to himself, he never forgot wliat was due to 
others. Of a somewhat impatient temper, he kept the 
most vigilant watch over it ; and, if betrayed into un- 
guarded warmth, was ever ready to regret and atone for 
any possible oifence. Such an example is well worthy 
of imitation. It bespeaks a kindness of heart and 
delicacy of feeling which always mark the true gentle- 
man, and of which vulgar and cowardly natures are in- 
capable. 

Senator Pearce was a statesman, and not a mere 
])olitician. You never found him making speeches, long 
or short, for personal effect. Though a party man, he 
was not a party tool. Though a stout adversary, he was 
a generous one. He never inquired the cost of a cur- 
tain for the East Room, or counted the spoons on the 
President's table. He never offered resolutions on whicli 
to jiredicate harangues for local effect. Content to stand 
upon his own sense of what was due from him to the 
station he occupied, he left his character and his useful- 
ness to speak for him, both to the Senate and his con- 
stituents. A proud man, he scorned the petty arts ot" 
I he demagogue, and reposed with confidence upon the 
enlightened judgment of the State which had intrusted 
its diirnitv and its interests to his keepiii<T. 



& 



m 'g 

HON. JAMES A. PEAKCE. 19 



Into the private and domestic life of Senator Pearce, 
I will not attempt to enter. It may not, however, be 
amiss to say that few men were his equals in the charm 
of social intercourse. Possessing a correct taste and 
great amenity of manner, being, withal, a close observer 
of events and a patient thinker, his conversation was 
both interesting and instructive, and always fastidiously 
pure. Few have more thoroughly mastered their own 
language, or could habitually express themselves with 
equal correctness and elegance. An awkward phrase 
was to him an annoyance, and vulgarity almost a crime. 

Mr. President, in all history we find but few among 
public men who can be cited as exemplars of all the 
virtues. The moral subhme is rarely illustrated either 
in public or private life, except by individual actions. 
We must judge men, in whatever station, by the age in 
which they live, the circumstances which surround them, 
the influences to which they are exposed, and all that 
goes to the formation and development of individual 
character. Tried by this standard, how few there arc 
who rise far above the level of their time and surround- 
ings ! 

After receiving a large share of public attention for 
many years, our friend and associate has finished his 
earthly career at a point of time the most striking and 
eventful in his country's history ; at a period when tlio 
question of man's capacity for self-government is to be 
finally determined; when it is to be definitely ascertained 
whether law and order or anarchy and misrule are to 
dominate in this hemisphere; whether the cause (<f 
progress and civilization is to be benefited or injured. 
ii 



&: fS 

20 OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 

strengthened or weakened, by our example ; whether 
freedom to man is henceforward to be the rule or the 
exception in government ; whether, in fine, this western 
world is to present the imposing spectacle of a great, 
united, prosperous, powerful, and free people, exhibiting 
the virtues and bestowing the benefits of peace and a 
regard for human rights upon all mankind, or whether 
we are to become a hissing and a byword — a feeble 
gathering of disunited, scattered, fragmentary, shadowy 
republics, powerless for good, feared and honored by 
none, despised by all, and most of all by ourselves, the 
degraded and degenerate descendants of dead heroes. 

As the dying statesman's eye tunned for the last time 
to meet the sun, did his mental vision penetrate beyond 
the curtain which divides the present from the future ? 
Was he permitted, as earth was fading from his view, to 
behold the future destiny of his country I AVhat may 
be the revelations of such a moment none living can 
disclose. And this is well. Could that mysterious veil 
be hfted but for a moment, even the stoutest heart might 
be appalled by what lies beyond. The terrible ordeal 
tliroui;!! which we may yet be compelled to pass before 
the end of this mighty struggle is attained, might require 
more of couraije and endurance than fall to the lot of 
any people. But faith and hope endure forever. To 
1 liese angels of a merciiul and righteous God we may 
look, HI the darkest hour, tor support to a righteous 
cause. Temporary defeat may await our armies, weak- 
ness may pervade our councils, rivers of tears may flow 
i'rom sad and sorrowing eyeS; clouds and darkness may 



t- 



n 0$ 

HOX. JAMES A. PEARCE. 21 

be around about us, but liope for our beloved land and 
faith in its destiny will yet strengthen the patriot's heart 
and nerve his arm as he looks forward to the future. 



The resolutions were unanimously adopted, and the 
Senate adjourned. 



m gl 



22 ODITUARY ADDRESSES. 



FN THE HOUSE OF IIE PRESENT ATI VES. 

TrESDAY, January 13, 18G3. 



Mr. Crisfield. I desire to call up the message Irom 
the Senate, now upon the S})eaker's table. 

The message from the Senate was taken up and read, 
us ioUows : 

Ix THE Sexate of the United States, 

January 13, 1SG3. 

Resolved, That the Senate of the United States Las received 
with the deepest sensibility the announcement of tlie death of Hon. 
James Alfred Pearck. 

Rcsolrcd, That, as an additional mark of ix'spoct to the memory 
of the deceased, the members and oflicers of the Senate will wear 
the usual badge of mourning for thirty days. 

Resolved, That, a.s a further mark of respect for the memory of 
the deceased, the Senate do now adjourn. 

Ordered, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to 
the IIou.se of Representatives. 

Attest : J. W. FOIiXEY, 

By W. IIICKEY, Chi,f Clerk. 



(fiw 



Or 



IPJ 

HON. JAMES A. TEAKCE. 23 



Address of ^Ir. Crisfield, of Maryland. 



I 



Mr. Speaker: The message which has just been read 
at your desk is the official notice to this house of an 
event which was known to each of us, and is mourned 
by the whole country. 

James Alfred Pearce, late a senator in Congress 
from the State of Maryland, after a long and painful ill- 
ness, died at his residence in Chestertown, Kent county, 
^Maryland, on Saturday, the 20th day of December last. 

He was born at the city of Alexandria, on the 14th 
of December, 1805, and at the period of his death had 
just entered upon his fifty-eighth year. He was de- 
scended, on the paternal side, from one of the oldest 
and most respectable famihes in Maryland. His parents 
resided in Kent county, in that State, but at the time of 
his birth they happened to be at the residence of his 
maternal grandfather, the late Dr. Dick, of Alexandria. 
His mother died when he was quite yonng ; and his 
early education was directed by careful teachers in the 
city of his birth, under the superintendence of his grand- 
father. He early gave evidence of the strong and quick 
talents which made his alter life so distinguished. 

While he was yet very young, he was removed to the 
College of New Jersey, and when he had scarcely com- 
pleted his sixteenth year, he graduated at that distin- 
euished seat of learnini? with the first honors of his 
class. Among his classmates were the late George R. 



■ p 



24 OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 



Kicliurdsoii, attorney general uf Maryland, in his day 
one of the briafhtest ornaments of the Maryland bar; 
Albert B. Dod, afterwards a distinguished professor of 
the same college; Hugo Mearns, of Pennsylvania, dis- 
tinguished for his scholarship ; and Edward D. Mansfield, 
sub.sequenlly professor of law in the Cincinnati College. 
To hold even an equal rank in such fellowship would 
have been a gi*eat honor, but to take precedence over 
them, at his early age, clearly foreshadowed his subse- 
(juent distinction. At that period he distinguished 
himself not simply for scholarship, but he then gave 
evidence of the possession of the parliamentary abilities 
which made his senatorial life so successful. He was a 
member of the Cliosophic Society, and, as junior orator, 
he won the first honors over all competition. In 1822 
he took the degree of Master of Arts, and at a later 
period of his life, that venerable institution, in recogui- 
lion of his talents and public services, honored itself and 
him by conferring on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. 
He studied law in the city of Baltimore with the late 
Judge Glenn, and was admitted to the bar in 1<S24. 
Shortly after his admission, he commenced the practice 
of his [)rofession in Cambridge, i\Iaryland. x\.ft(^r re- 
maining in Cambridge about a year, he removed to Lou- 
isiana, where he remained two or three years engaged 
ill ])l;in1ing. From Louisiana lie came to the seat of liis 
I'aniilv. ill Kent countv, Maryland, and in that county he 
resided to the close of his life. On his return to Kent. 
he resumed the practice of law. He very soon reached 
the front rank of liis profession. His mind, quick, ana- 
Ulieal, and discriminatiiiij:, was admirably fitted for the 

\ ,, 



m — ^ 

HON. JAMES A. TEAKCE. 25 

successful ])ursuit of the law. By careful study he had 
mastered the great principles of the science and made 
them his own, and his ready elocution, enriched and 
adorned by his ripe scholarship, and his immense and 
varied stores of literature, made him a most powerful 
and tascinatini? advocate. If he had confined himself to 
the ])ursuit of the law, it is not, I think, too much, nor 
any disparagement to others, to say that the Maryland 
bar, at no period of its history, could have pointed to a 
more profound jurist or a more successful advocate than 
he would have been. But his fellow-citizens, with ap- 
preciative judgment of his capacity for parliamentary 
duties, and of personal character, did not permit him 
long to pursue the quiet walks of his profession, but 
oarly called him into the public service. 

In 1831, without any agency of his own, and contrary 
to his own expectations, he was sent to the legislature of 
Maryland. The confidence thus early bestowed was 
never withdrawn, but, with one single exception, was 
continued through all the mutations of party down to 
his death. In 1835 he became a member of this house, 
and, with the exception of a single term — when he was 
defeated by a small majority by the Hon. Philip Francis 
Thomas, afterwards governor of the State, and at a later 
period Secretary of the Treasury — he was re-elected 
from term to term till 1843. In 1843 he was trans- 
ferred to the other house, where he continued, by four 
successive elections, till his death. This long and un- 
interrupted period of public service is the most hont)r- 
able and conclusive proof of his great talents and purity 
of character : and it is the more honorable and conclu- 

i 



m 1 

2t> OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 

sive when it is remembered — as all who knew him 
know — that he never, throughout his long career, ever 
look pains to concihate the support of any one. He 
despised the usual arts of electioneering, and when his 
own election was the subject of consideration he was 
austere and reserved, even to his friends, to a dei^rree 
V. liich sometimes provoked complaint. I venture to 
athrm that at no period, directly or indirectly, did he 
ever speak one word, or do any act, with a view to pro- 
pitiate any voter to his support ; and from a long per- 
sonal acquaintance with his character, I can say that his 
delicate sense of propriety would not have permitted 
him to accept othce, except in obedience to the unsought 
requisition of his fellow-citizens that his time and tal- 
ents should be devoted to the public service. 

The records of Congress for the last twenty-seven 
years are replete with the evidences of the wisdom and 
value of his labors. I shall not attempt to recount them 
in detail : they are well known and deservedly appre- 
ciated by the country. These records, I will, however, 
say, do show that he was a wise, prudent, and patriotic 
statesman ; that in no single instance did he forget his 
own dignity, his duty to the whole country, and his de- 
votion 1() his own State and people; that he never was 
a partisan wrangler — the factious opponent of those irom 
whom he diilered, the blind su]){)orler of those with 
whom he in general agrecil, or the apologist of vice or 
ollicial delinquency. These records do show that he 
had carefully studied the Constitution, and made it, under 
all (Mrcumslanrrs, IIk' rule of his action; lh;i1 h(^ h;i<l an 
exalted appreciation of wlial was due (o llic honor, glory, 

83 Si 



@- 



HON. JAMES A. PEARCE. 27 

and (liguily of his country, and in every eiiiergeiicy sup- 
l)orted them with conscientious and unfaltering zeal ; in 
a word, they exhibit him a patriot who loved his country; 
a statesman who understood more nearly than most men 
what was needful to its grandeur and power; a just 
man, who, for himself and his country, with unyielding 
perseverance, and according to his intelligent convic- 
tions, pursued the right. 

He was, from taste and habit of thought, more inclined 
to literature and science than to politics ; and the early 
training and liberal education which he had received 
well fitted him to pursue the bent of his inclination. It 
was in consequence of this that during his career in 
Congress, first in the House of Representatives and 
again in the Senate, he was a leader in advocating, di- 
recting, and controlling the various legislative enactments 
which pertained to literature and science. 

The Library of Congress was a flivorite object of his 
care, and he gave much time and thought to the man- 
aijement of its affairs. The value of this rich collection 
of the recorded labors of the liuman intellect is greatly 
indebted to his knowledge and judgment in making the 
selection of appropriate works. 

The Coast Survey, including its advantages, methods, 
and results, was another object of his special attention. 
No member of Congress was better acquainted with the 
details of its operations, and its annual progress; and no 
one was more ready or better able to give an answer to 
any question which might arise as to its management 
and practical and scientific utility, or to defend it against 
the attacks which it might receive from those who had 



-m 



not as thoroughly as himself mastered its history and its 
character. His most elaborate speech upon tlie survey, 
which was delivered in 1849, gave so full, so clear, and 
so admirably arranged an exposition of the character and 
progi'ess of the work, that it not only established the 
confidence of Congress in the enterprise, but also, by a 
wide distribution of printed copies, served to enlighten 
the public mind on the subject, and to direct liivorable 
attention to it as well as to himself 

The Botanic Garden w\is another object of his peculiar 
regard. That institution, which has brought the plants 
and trees of the tropics and the remote parts of the 
earth to our doors, and is so replete with curious, 
instructive, and interesting objects of study and gratifi- 
cation, has grown np under his personal superintendence 
and care. He took much pleasure in and devoted much 
of his time to its growth and improvement. 

The Smithsonian Institution was another object of his 
solicitude and care. In 1847, immediately after its or- 
ganization, he was appointed one of its regents, and very 
soon afterwards was elected a member of the executive 
committee, and afterwards became its chairman, ^\ hicli 
office he continued to hold until the time of his deatii. lie 
critically examined the will of the founder, and became^ 
convinced that the institution was intended not for edu- 
cational purposes, nor even to diffuse uselid knowledge, 
l)ut for the higher and more fcipecial purpose of increas- 
ing the sum of iiuman knowledge by new researches 
and explorations, and the diifusion of the result of these 
among intelhgent men in all parts of the civilized world. 
In tlie discussions which occurred in 1854, as to th(^ 



@- 



m- 



-= n 

HON. JAMES A. PEARCE. 29 






plan of organization, he took a lively interest, and de- 
fended, l)y an able and comprehensive speech, the course 
which had been pursued by the regents in carrying out 
the will of the testator under the law of Congress 
authorizing the establishment. He also made an elabo- 
rate report to the board of regents on the distribution 
of the income of the Smithsonian fund. He gave 
scrupulous attention to the expenditures of the estab- 
lishment, and, as chairman of the executive committee, 
annually examined every item of expenditure during the 
whole year. 

Mr. Peakce had great administrative and executive 
power, and an active judicial mind. Though impatient 
of mere routine duty, yet in grasping great principles, he 
was never unmindful of details. He was singularly 
flmiiliar with the details of the government, as well as 
exact in his knowledge of principles. Mr. Fillmore, in 
just appreciation of these qualities, when he came to 
form his Cabinet, appointed him Secretary of the Inte- 
rior, and afterwards tendered him the appointment of 
judge of the United States court for the district of Mary-^ 
land, both of which places he declined, preferring to 
remain in the position which had been confided to him 
by the people of his own State. 

Mr. Peakce, by his talents, sagacity, and his thorough 
knowledge of the government, and of public questions, 
was admirably fitted for a party leader, and his friends 
many times endeavored to push him forward, l)ut he 
shnmk from the mere contests of party. And yet, when 
occasion required it, he did not hesitate to break a lance 
with the most renowned champions, and always with 



30 OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 

credit to himself. If he did not always bear away the 
laurels of victory, his flag never trailed in token of de- 
feat. But he had no taste for that kind of debate ; and 
I venture to affirm that in all the records of the two 
houses no speech of his can be found of a merely party 
character. He never spoke but upon practical ques- 
tions depending, and with a view to influence their de- 
cision. He never made a speech in either house for 
eflect elsewhere, and very rarely printed one for circula- 
tion even among his friends. The public, even his con- 
stituents, have no just idea of the extent and variety of 
his labors. To be justly estimated, they must be searched 
for through the ponderous records of the two houses 
for a period of more than a quarter of a century. 

He was not an ambitious man, in the ordinary sense 
of that term. He had a just regard for his o^\^l char- 
acter, and a becoming solicitude for his own flmie. He 
desired to be useful, to labor for his country, to benefit 
his race, and to possess the good o})inion of his cotem- 
poraries; but he had no desire for the possession of mere 
power. The presidency had no charms for him. At 
one period his friends and many others thought that high 
dignity was within his grasp, and he was urged to all(nv 
himself to be placed in the way of it. This might have 
been done without any change of opinion, the least sacri- 
lice of principle, or the slightest indelicacy ; but he 
steadily refused, and on the ground that its burdens were 
a too costly price to pay for its honors. 

Mr. Pearce was a member and a leader of the AVhig 
party. He was a firm believer in Ihe constitutional 
views and general ideas of policy which distinguished 



16- 



-m 



HON. JAMES A. PEAKCE. 31 



that party. It is believed he retained these general 
views till his death. When that party went down, and 
in 1856, when the contest for the presidency was be- 
tween Mr. Buchanan and Colonel Fremont, the chances 
of ]\[r. Fillmore being hopeless, he supported Mr. Bu- 
chanan, in the vain hope of warding off the terrible sec- 
tional conllict which has since devastated the country ; 
and from that period he acted with the Democratic party. 
He had a fearful apprehension of the dangers to result 
from sectional controversy, and more than once warned 
his countrymen of its fearful and fatal consequences. 
His sympathies, of course, were with his section. He 
looked on a dissolution of the Union as the most terrible 
national calamity. He early avowed that secession was 
adverse to the Constitution, and that there was no just 
cause for revolution ; and he repeated these opinions the 
last time his health permitted him to occupy the floor of 
the Senate for any length of time. He differed very 
widely from the administration respecting the power of 
arrest ; and his last great speech was in defence of the 
liberty of the citizen, and against the power of the 
President to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas 
corpus. But his loyalty and devotion to the government 
were beyond question. Among the last letters I received 
from him, was one in reference to a paper quite widely 
circulated, with which my name is connected, and which 
breathes in every line sentiments of loyalty and Union, 
of which he spoke in terms of laudation ; and, to use his 
own expression, adopted its sentiments and opinions 
without an if or a but. He longed to see the Union 



(&■ 



32 OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 

restored ; and his last days were einl)ittered \)\ the ap- 
prehension that it might not be done. 

In the intervals of relaxation from the public service 
he devoted himself mostly to agriculture, and was a most 
successful farmer. He took great delight in the pursuit, 
and brought a farm, which in my youth I have roamed 
over, noted for its barrenness, to be one of the most fer- 
tile and productive estates in Maryland. Annually he 
used to give a farmers' dinner, at which his neighbors 
were collected ; and occasionally he gave to his fellow- 
citizens the benefit of his knowledsre of the science and 
])ractice of agriculture in the form of a public address. 

His tastes were all refined, delicate, and elevated. 
He could not tolerate the gross, vulgar, or indelicate 
He loved the beautiful in whatever form it appeared. 
He delighted in flowers ; he was charmed with music. 
The wild melodv of birds never failed to draw from him 
an expression of pleasure. He contemplated works of 
ait with appreciative and discriminating judgment ; was 
devoted to the drama; and luxuriated in elegant litera- 
ture. In social intercourse he was without a rival so far 
as my observation goes. His rich and varied learning ; 
his thorough knowledge of men and things ; the quick 
and rapid evolutions of his mind; his incxhaustiiile fund 
of incident and anecdote of remarkalile persons and 
periods ; his wit and humor ; the natural and easy How 
of his style; and his graceful and dignified manners, never 
failed to fascinate all who were permitted to enjoy his 
society. 

He was a man of exalted virtue. He was incapable 
of an impure or mean action. He was just in his deal- 



-JS 



ings, Irutliful in every declaration, failliliil to every 
promise. During his whole life he was never suspected, 
as far as I know or believe, of any impropriety involving 
his personal honor. He passed through all the vicissi- 
tudes of public life and the struggles of party without 
ever having his action ascribed to im])ro])er influences. 
Purity of conduct was habitual with liim : it pervaded 
his whole life, and in every relation. It was my hap[)i- 
ness K)ng to enjoy his friendship and correspondence. I 
have his familiar letters, running through a period of 
over twenty years; and I take pride in saying that, in 
all that intercourse, there never was a word spoken or 
written by him which, if published, would not increase 
the public respect for his character, and supply new 
proofs that he was a good as well as a great man. 

But the crowning glory of life was his death. If the 
former was an example of incorruptible virtue, which 
shames our faults and challenijes our emulation, his death 
is a triumphant proof of the power and mercy of God, 
which to us who survive is both a warning and a conso- 
lation. ]\Ir. Peaece died with the blessed assurance of 
a blissful immortality. I discovered last summer, while 
he still was able to attend the Senate, that his thoughts 
were beinof turned towards his own salvation, thouijh he 
never trusted himself to speak to me directly on the 
subject. Shortl}^ after he went home, he wrote to me 
that he felt the duty and necessity of preparation i'or 
the cliange which would come, soonor or later. The 
topic was alluded to in every letter as long as he was 
able to write, and when he was too feeble for that, I was 
kept informed of his condition and the state of his mind 



©■ 



34 OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 

throiigli tlie correspondence of his son, who is a most ex- 
cellent young man, and inherits, if we may judge \)\ his 
present promise, the mind and graces of his fatlier. We 
cannot look into the hearts of men, and can only test 
their sincerity by their outward conduct; yet I feel 
warranted in expressing the belief that Mr. Pearce's 
faith was clear and unreserved, his repentance genuine 
and thorough, his hope strong and bright, and grew 
stronger and brighter as death drew nearer. His chief 
anxiety towards the close was that he might live to 
exhibit his change of heart before the world, and especially 
to his coni])anions in the public service. The day after 
his death, his son wrote me the followinuf letter, which, 
without his consent or knowledge, and perhaps contrary 
to his wish, I take the liberty of reading to the House : 

"CuESTERTOWX, December 21, 1862. 
"Mv Dear Sir : My father's painful life was ended yesterday, at 
two o'clock, in perfect tranquillity of mind and body, and I have not 
a shadow of doubt that he is enjoying the eternal happiness which is 
the sure reward of such faith and repentance as his. What his suf- 
ferings were no one will ever know, but I believe no human being 
ever endured more intense or prolonged suffering. I am sure no one 
ever bore them with readier acquiescence to God's will, or sweeter 
cheerfulness to those around him. He had acquired a frame of mind 
so wholly set on heaven, that the only thoughts which ever put aside 
religion Avere those that the unhappy condition of the country forced 
upon him. If, as I presume, your friendly connexion with him con- 
stitutes you the proper person to notify the House of llepresentativcs 
of his death, I think I only carry out his wishes in asking you to 
state distinctly the clear, decided religious opinion he held, and the 
anxiety he expressed so often that his former iv^sociates in public life 
might know the certainty with which he trusted in his belief. If he 
had lived, it would have been his effort to make practical exhibition 



c- 



HON. JAMES A. PEAKCE. 35 

of this ; and now that he is gone, I think it my duty to make this re- 
quest of you. Th(! day b(,'fore Iiis dcatli, lie charged me to send to 
you the remembrance of his death-bed. He said, " Tell him I loved 
him," and was going on further, but his emotion silenced him. It is 
a dreadful loss to lose a father, and, most of all, such as mine was to 
me. For the first time in my life, I find my grief, contrary to my 
nature, longing for expression to those who share it with me. But I 
am writing now to discharge a duty, and have already accomplished it. 
" I remain, my dear sir, very truly, yours, 

" J. A. PE ARCE, Jr. 

" Hon. J. "W. Crisfield, 

" Washington, District of Columbia" 

Mr. Speaker, the scene has closed ! Ja.aies Alfred 
Pearce has been gathered to his fathers ; his spirit has 
gone to meet the responsibiUties and the rewards of 
eternity; his life and character only remain, just objects 
of admiration and emulation to American youth. 

" We have lost him ; he is gone ! 
We know him now : all narrow jealousies 
Are silent ; and we see him as he moved — 
How modest, kindly, all-accomplished, wise. 
With what sublime repression of himself. 
And in what limits, and how tenderly ! 
Not swaying to this faction or to that ; 
Not making his high place the lawless perch 
Of winged ambitions, nor a vantage-ground 
For pleasure ; but through all this tract of years 
Wearing the white flower of a blameless life, 
Before a thousand peering littlenesses. 
******** 

Wlio dares foreshadow for an only son 

A lovelier life, a more unstained than his ? " 

1 1 ros 



Mr. Speaker, I move the adoption of the following 
resolutions : 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives of the United States 
has received wnth the deepest sensibility intelligence of the death of 
James Alfred Pearce, late a Senator in Congi-ess fmm the State 
of ^laryland. 

Resolved, That the members and officers of this house, as a proper 
mark of respect for the personal character and long and valuable 
public services of Hon. James A. Pearce, will go into mourning by 
wearing crape on the left arm for the period of thirty days. 

Resolved, That, as a further mark of respect for the memory of the 
deceased, this house do uow adjourn. 



Address of^h. Chittexden, of Kentucky. 

Mr. Speaker: I rise to do little else than to second 
the resolutions ofiered by my friend from Maryland. I 
knew Mr. Pearce well. For many years I enjoyed the 
honor and pleasure of an acquaintance with him more 
intimate, perhaps, than did a majority of those who were 
associated wdth him in public life. Nothing of all that 
has been said l)y my friend from ]\Iaryland surpasses the 
actual beauty of his character. I served with him long 
in llie Senate; and during that full term of service, em- 
bracing periods of high political agitation and great party 
excitement, no one ever heard Mr. Peakce say a word 
or saw him do an act in that Ixxly that was not suitable 
to a gentleman and a Senator. No rule of decorum 
towards anv member of the bodv was ever violated l)v 
liim. To be a gentleman and to be honorable was a part 
and parcel of his nature. They seemed to be less the 



B- 



P ^ —^ : -„_ ^ '^ 

HON. JAMES A. PEARCE. 37 

acquirement of any moral education which he had re- 
ceived than part of his natural endowments. I never 
heard him, by any inadvertence — I never heard him, m 
any moment of excitement in conversation, utter a senti- 
ment that was not in itself delicate and pure. There 
was nothing vulgar, there was nothing rude about him. 
His modesty was conspicuous in tlie midst of the many 
virtues that adorned him. He was not more careful of 
the rights and feelings of others than he demanded from 
others perfect respect towards himself He had no idea 
that was more clear and distinct than that of the highest 
personal honor and the keenest sensibility to anything 
like insult, and no one was more prompt to resent any 
indignity. And yet, sir, although possessed of all these 
high qualities, Mr. Pearce was a man who made ]io 
ostentatious display. I never knew^ one who was freer 
from the quality of egotism. He concealed his high 
qualities and virtues as the mine conceals its treasures. 
There was no display of them. It was only when oc- 
casion required it that his powers w^ere put forth ; and 
such was his diffidence — bis marked and characteristic 
diffidence — that he passed through this house, and passed 
even through the Senate, with but an imperfect knowl- 
edge on the part of those bodies of the extent of his 
virtues or of his intellectual qualities. 

Mr. Speaker, I ought not to add a word to what has 
been said by my friend from Maryland. I shall l^ut mar 
the just and beautiful picture which he has drawn of the 
character and life of his friend. I know no more edu- 
cated, polished, and refined legislator than he was. There 
was, sir, a daily beauty in his life, and his death has cor- 
= — =— ^ p 



m- — _ 

38 OBITUAKY ADDUESSES. 



responded willi it. May the grass grow green upon his 
grave and the rose and the laurel flourish there together, 
\\ hilc! his country shall long remember him with pride 
and alfection. 



Address of Mr. McPiierson, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: Wlien Mr. Pearce entered this house, 
twenty-seven years ago, he was a young and ardent 
member of the Whig party, then preparing for its first 
great victory, whose bright promises were soon dashed 
by the disgraceful defection of a Virginian, who, then 
treacherous to his party and lately treacherous to his 
nation, has gone down to his grave in ignominy and con- 
tempt. From that period to the day of his death, Mr. 
Pearce continued, with tlie exception of one congres- 
sional term, a mcml)er of the national legislature — and 
was an observer and participant in the political move- 
ments of those momentous years. During all that time, 
he was an attentive and laborious member, alwavs main- 
taining a high position, and enlarging the sphere of his 
iulluence. He was C()ns])iru()us in what must be con- 
sidered a great historic period — one fruitful of vast con- 
sequences, not only to us, but to millions elsewhere — not 
only to the cause of free government on this continent, 
but to all tbrms of government on all continents ; and he 
bore an important, if not a controlling part in the achieve- 
ments of that (piarter of a cciiduy in which tlie nation 
appeared to be making the surest and (piickest progress 
towards supremacy and immortality. A few facts \\\\\ 
\)v>[ illustrate this point. 



IB- 



When Mr. Pearce entered Congress, tlie people were 
divided solely upon questions of internal ad ministration — 
the expediency of a protective tarifl', a sub-treasury, and 
the distribution of tlie proceeds of the sales of tlie pub- 
lic lands. The great northwest had scarcely entered upon 
its amazing career ; the Salune bounded us on the south- 
west ; the Oregon boundary and the northeastern were 
unsettled; our immense Indian possessions were unor- 
ganized, and neither the nation nor foreign powers had 
realized the extent of our resources, the reach of our 
capabilities, or the magic and marvellous influence we 
were destined to exert upon the worhl. During his 
term of service many perplexing foreign diiferences 
were adjusted, and American diplomacy made for itself 
an honorable place, in the persons of AVebster and 
Marcy and Seward ; the State of Texas was annexed, 
the Mexican war fought, an empire added to our domain, 
and our golden sister from ihe Pacific welcomed by the 
nation ; seven other States were encircled by the Union* 
which stretched from ocean to ocean; the whole of our 
territorial possessions was covered by organizations upon 
the principles of which, after long controversy, the Con- 
gress were unanimously agreed ; the tariff policy was 
variously modified, and a uniform land })olicy adopted ; 
the Pacific railroad was inaugurated, and the slavery con- 
troversy of 1850 was compromised, and then so sadly 
reopened in 1854 by the enactment of the Kansas-Ne- 
braska law, with all the gloomy catalogue of wrongs and 
evils of which it was the prolific mother. At the close 
of his career he found this vast empire torn by internal 
dissensions, the American Union shattered, its power 
• 



40 OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 

weakened, its mission eclipsed, its beauty obscured, its 
institutions threatened, and its life in danger. To all of 
us this great grief has come with crushing weight. Our 
deceased friend felt it with peculiar acuteness; for had 
he not helped to consolidate this empire, enlarge the 
Union, increase its power, ennoble its mission, refine its 
beauty, protect its institutions, and guard its life! As 
Rachel wept for her children, he would not be com- 
forted. The troubles of the country preyed upon him, 
and his days were shortened. 

Few of us have had so varied experience. Upon all 
questions he has a clear and open record. Upon that it 
is not for me to pass. It is, however, proper to say that 
I believe Mr. Pearce met the great responsibiUties of 
his position with a purity of purpose rarely if ever ex- 
ceeded in our history. 

In his personal character Mr. Pearce was singularly 
admirable. He was a well educated, highly cultivated 
gentleman. A statesman, he was a patron of the fine 
arts. As chairman for twenty years of the Joint Com- 
mittee on the Library of Congress, lie gave that valuable 
institution a guardianship as faithful and carefid as it was 
enlightened ; and as a regent of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion from its date of orij^anization, and a meml)er of its 
executive couiiniUcc, he nobly idenlilied himself with 
that great educating and civilizing agent whicli will make 
the name of Smithson enduring as one of the benefactors 
of mankind. Mr. Pearce was all liis lif(^ a student, un- 
obtrusive in demeanor, but of strong convictions and 
decided opinions, which he always had the manliness to 
avow in the presence of friend or ibe. lie was a gentle- 

^ . 



©— — — — »—-=—— l\ 

IIOX. JAMES A. PEARCE. 41 



man of the most delicate sensibility, tis all realized who 
observed his bearing during the pendency of his last re- 
election to the Senate. He was a laborious, fliithfid, and 
useful man, whose counsels, fidelity, and information will 
be missed in the committee room, the Senate chamber, 
and the halls of science. 

Mr. Speaker, called to serve with him in two fields of 
habor, and thrown somewhat intimately with him, my 
conceptions of his character — formed after years of 
observation — were confirmed; and I never ceased to 
admire him for the thoroughness with which he performed 
every duty, the high motives which controlled his con- 
duct, and the clearness he brought to the consideration 
of subjects of common mterest. On many points we 
differed ; but I believe it will be many years before there 
will be found in the American Congress a purer, more 
enlightened, and useful member than the late James 
Alfred Pearce, of Maryland. 



Address of Mr. May, of Maryland. 

Mr. Speaker: I have only been apprised since I 
came into this hall that these sad ceremonies of 
respect to our distinguished colleague were appointed for 
to-day. I wish, sir, to offer my tribute to his memory. 
He honored me with his friendship for many years, and 
in the last months of his life freely imparted to me his 
views upon the vital questions which now, unhappily, 
divide our country. I am authorized to speak lor him 
here upon those questions; and I wish, if the unpre- 
meditated thoughts and feelings suggested by the occa- 



■s ■■ 

42 OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 

sion, or awakened by the touching and el.xjuent tributes 
of the distinguished gentlemen who have preceded 
me, may go in place of more studied eulogy, to oiler 
them just as they spring from my heart. I desire to 
speak of the respect in which he was held by those 
who, in the divisions of political sentiment, as represented 
in party organization, having opposed him throughout 
the greater portion of his life, at length discovering that 
he was a i)ublic man who followed "principles and not 
men," hontjred him with the highest testimony of 
their confidence, and committed to him the representa- 
tion of the sovereignty of their State. For the Demo- 
cratic party of the State of Maryland, I here speak, 
and also for those of all parties who believed with 
him that the Constitution of this land was made 
for war as well as iov peace; nay, sir, who believe that 
its strongest and most priceless sanctions were designed 
as bulwarks aijainst the tendencies of arbitrary power 
supported l)y military authority, and have a higher i)l)li- 
gation in war (ban in peace. For those in our State 
who, while acknowledging all the delegated powers of 
th(! federal government, yet retain an erpial reverence 
and respect for the reserved rights of the States, I also 
bear testimony of their respect lor his distinguished 
public lite — a life which illustrated, in a long public ser- 
vice, all those virtues which can adorn a high and pure- 
minded reiMiblican rt^prcsentative. For all these classes 
of our fellow-citizens, I wisli to pay the tribute of their 
respect ibr his character jind public services, and to 
express their i)rofound sorrow for his (h?ath. 

Mr. Speaker, when the storms of jiassion had jirostrated 

ii ■ g ; 



^ _-- . =-« .'ql 

HON. JAMES A. PEARCE. 43 

the assembled representatives in botli halls of this Capi- 
tol, our senator stood, amid the few, firm and erect. 
Broken in health, liis vital powers almost exhausted, he 
yet marchetl up with the remnant of his life to the side 
of the bleeding Constitution of his country, and gave his 
latest eil'orts to sustain it. He did all that a pubUc man 
could do here to support the paramount autliority of the 
Constitution, and to oppose and defy the exertions of 
arbitrary power. I remember witJi infinite pleasure, 
and repeat it here with delight, that one of the last 
efforts of his public service was a noble speech vindi- 
cating his fellow-citizens of Maryland against the crimi- 
nal and cruel oppressions under which they were then 
suffering. I remember how his heart, the seat of his 
fatal disease, pulsating with a noble enthusiasm and 
sympathy for them, and beating too warmly, denied him 
the utterance of speech, and compelled him to retire from 
the Senate and seek the qaiet of his chamber; and well 
do I remember another most gratifying instance of his 
spirit of liberty. It was my duty, as a representative 
of the State of Maryland, to take counsel of his experi- 
ence in one of the rooms of the Capitol, touching an atro- 
cious and unparalleled outrage on the judiciary of our 
State, by dragging from the bench an honored, eminent, 
and faithful magistrate, scattering his blood upon the 
ermine, and well-nigh taking his life by the hands of 
armed ruffians; and I can never forget the glow of indig- 
nation that kindled his eye and swelled his breast at the 
recital of the facts. The excitement was too strong for 
his enfeebled frame, and lie sunk under the exhaustion 
of his own noble enthusiasm. If he could do no more 



U- 



m- 



44 



OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 



to vindicate the authority of the Constitution of his 
country than he did accompHsh, it was because he was 
denied the power to do it by the prostration of liis vital 
functions and the unheeding passions that prevailed. 
The worthless tenement of flesli could not support the 
struggles of its undying guest. Sir, he felt that it was 
his duty to prevent and redress, and not invite or pro- 
voke, the further aggressions of a reckless tyranny. He 
so stated his views to me. 

Mr. Speaker, let no advocate of unlicensed power dare 
claim an approbation of his views because this eminent 
senator did not wrestle more conspicuously with arbi- 
trary power in the halls of Congress; nor let any com- 
l^laining victim of tyranny question the integrity or tlie 
noble devotion of his services in their behalf; nor yet 
must any self-applauding martyr of Uberty attempt to gain 
a passing notoriety at the expense of the fame of this 
departed statesman of Maryland ; but let these, and all 
of us, draw from the contemplation of his life on this 
solemn occasion, instruction that may be salutary. Let 
us learn from the moderation and lidelity of his character, 
1o admire in our public stations, and seek those duties 
which look to conciliation, compromise, and concord. 
Let no wrongs suffered, no resentment fixed in our 
breasts, move us from the discharge of these sacred 
duties; but let us try, through the common suffering that 
allUets the land, to walk out from the dominion of pas- 
sion, puriiied, regenerated, and disenthralled. 

I trust, Mr S[)eaker. that, speaking from my heart, as 
I ought to sp(Mk on ;iii occasion like this, I trespass not 
aiifainst the limits which ouirht to l)e observed in dis- 



&■ 



Bj- 



HON. JAMES A. PEARCE. 45 

cussing the virtues of" an eminent statesman. I must 
speak now, sir, as I feel. While commending to [)ublic 
praise and respect the memory and services of this dis- 
tinguished man, I must be allowed to describe him as 
one who. liaving sworn to sup])()rt the Constitution of 
his country, to the latest moment of his life, and through 
every trial, kept the faith of that obligation to his Maker 
and his fellow-citizens. He rests now near the banks of 
the Chesapeake. The flowers which the distinguished 
gentleman from Kentucky described so beautifully as 
surrounding his grave, are symbols not only of his taste, 
but also of his immortality. And may we not trust, too, 
that the blossoms and fruits which opened and adorned 
his Hfe here, will also be more gloriously unfolded and 
ripened in a higher and brighter sphere. 

Mr. Speaker, while we deplore the loss of such 
public characters in this time of our national afl^lictions, 
may we not inquire why, in tlie inscrutable decrees of 
Providence, those gifted, experienced, and good men, 
whose lives were consecrated to the public service and 
to the welfare of their fellow-men, are removed from us I 
We cannot presume to penetrate tlie mysteries of divine 
wisdom. We must accept those providential lessons as 
teaching us that the cup of our adversity is not yet full; 
that the chastening rod is not yet to be broken, and as 
also solemnly admonishing us that passion is perhaps yet 
longer to have its sway. But are we not authorized to 
call upon those ascended statesmen who, like him, have 
passed from earth — all those great and good men who 
devoted their lives and talents to establish and maintain 
the principles embodied in our Constitution, which not 



<h. 



■m 



4G OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 

only form the boiul of our union, but wliicli are higher 
and infinitely more priceless than it — those principles of 
civil liberty which form the foundations on which the 
wliole fabric of the happiness of man under every form 
of free government rests I May we not expect, I repeat, 
that the spirits of the great statesmen who formed this 
noble structure of our government, and those who came 
after them and supported its pure and faithful adminis- 
tration — ay, sir, and the thousands of citizens whose 
souls have gone from ensanguined battle-fields — will be 
assembled witnesses at the bar of heaven, pleading the 
cause of their bleeding country, and that the Almighty 
Ruler of all nations, responding in His good time, will 
send down His angel of peace among us? Such, sir, is 
my devout prayer. 



Address of Mr. Riddle, of Ohio. 

Mr. Speaker : It may be said that the touch of death 
dissolves the form and figure with which man, in artihcial 
life, is clothed, and reduces him to his bare essential sell' : 
strips him to his unclothed individuality, so that, for once, 
he is estimated for what he is, disconnected from all that 
over ])ortaine<l to liiiii. Tt matters nothinuf wliere th(^ 
journey began; on what mountain or in what valley; 
nothing at all through what I'egions his i)atli conducted 
him, and still less what he gathered or scattered by IIk^ 
way ; he lies down at the end emply-haiuled, naked, and 
alone, tiie type of all the living, and I he peer of all the 
(lead. It avails nolhiiig how he was estimated in life ; 



-Q) 



HON. JAMES A. PEARCE. 47 



throui^h what mists be was seen, how hiudcd or how 
(Iccricd; the simple man hes before you now, and the 
unaided soul instinctively estimates him at his value ; an 
awful and inevitable ordeal. What a grand monarch is 
death; and how his subjects are hallowed and elevated 
1jy the touch of his sceptre. What lines of softened 
beauty it traces upon changeless faces, while the angels 
of charity hide with their wings the harsh lineaments, 
and veil the unlovable memories. And how, too, the 
living are changed, as they reverently enter his silent 
court. Folly and pride, passion, ambition and its meeds, 
hate and its prejudices, die within us, and leave justice, 
truth, and mercy to speak ; and so the dead living con- 
template the living dead. And so come I, the living 
descendant of the Puritan pilgrims, into the presence of 
the dead descendant of the Cavaliers, to speak, if I may, 
a fittini? word over him. 

Springing from these antipodal sources, educated in 
opposite schools of politics that had come to be intolerant, 
and coming from sections that had grown into hostility, 
with disparity of years, and neither disposed to lay aside 
the mental hal)it of a lifetime, the incidents of this queer 
congressional life threw the departed and myself for 
many months together. That intercourse taught me, at 
least, how much of political hatreds and enmities, of party 
strifes that shake a continent, and of sectional animosity 
that threatens to dismember it, are due to the prejudice 
that cannot see, the ignorance that will not know, and 
the bigotry that does not allow for differences in educa- 
tion, habit of thought, and all the surroundings tliat im- 
pregnate the atmosphere of social life, moral training, 



a- 



<(a 



i 



48 OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 

and political sentiment I also came to know that true 

nol^leness of soul, purity of heart, elevation of sentiment, 

and the refined cultivation of the gentlest humanities of 

our best nature, might find their amplest home in a phase 

of our civilization not, as I supposed, the most favorable 

to their growth, showing, at least, the native richness of 

the nature in which they grew. If I sometimes fancied 

that some one of these qualities found expression in an 

unwonted way incident to a warm and generous temper, 

I knew that — 

" Like sunshine broken in a rill, 
■ Thougli gone astray, 'twas sunshine still." 

Of the senator I may not speak. The representatives 
of the States, his peers, his brothers, friends, and rivals, 
circling around an empty chair, have done that fittingly 
and well ; while the representatives of the people on this 
floor have added more than was needful to his chaplet 
as a statesman and jurist. Life-long friends, whose elo- 
quence was made touching with individual sorrow, have 
recounted a career long familiar to the country : enum- 
erated his high qualities ; have shown us a crowned 
sovereign State mourning for her dead, and pointed us 
to that speechless circle which, bereft of its sun and 
centre, sits in a darkened sorrow that makes it sacred 
from our gaze. I speak only tlie impressions which 
many months of daily association with him produced. 
His was a high, ardent, impulsive nature, enlarged and 
generous, to which an early and thorough culture had 
opened out its thousand avenues ibr exercise and develop- 
ment. A mind vii^orous and enriched with liberal 
studies, an imagination stored with the i)ictured dreams 



m -~ ■ W 

HON. JAMES A. PEARCE. 49 

of old romance, and the quick, subtle, and appreciative 
power of detecting the often unseen lines of beauty in 
art or nature, it was his fortune to have spent his life on 
this great focal stage of the nation, and to have daily 
lived and breathed, to have been part and parcel of the 
momentous times and things of which other men only 
hear and read. I attempt no analysis of the influences, 
or their effects upon the character of public men inci- 
dent to the unnatural and stimulating official life in tliis 
capital, strange and striking as they appear to eyes first 
admitted to the charmed circle. Most men are meta- 
morphosed by them. 

It was the fortune of the departed senator to have 
mixed and mingled for twenty-seven years ; to have been 
the peer and familiar associate of presidents and senators, 
cabinet ministers, and royal ambassadors ; to have been 
the flattered companion of the great men, and the valued 
acquaintance of the noble and beautiful women that have 
crowded the boards in the great, strange, and varied na- 
tional drama ever being enacted, and npon which the 
curtain never descends, at this capital. And yet, to me, 
he seemed to have preserved the original elements of his 
nature in their primal strength. There was the same 
generous impulse ; the same lighting up of the flice at 
the mention of a noble act ; the quick sympathy with 
misfortune ; the word of commisseration for the deser\ - 
ing ; and the withering denunciation and sarcasm for 
everything mean or ungenerous. Hasty words have I 
heard, but unmanly or ungenerous never. And I never 
heard his tongue profaned with the ribald blasphemy 
of the name of woman, that pollutes the lips of so many 

id 



g: — g 

50 OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 

of the younger men of our generation. He had found 
time, too, for the development of those rare and refined 
tastes and [)ursuits not always thought compatible with 
exclusive pul)lic life, and incident to an older stage of 
ci^'ilization than that to which, as a nation, we have at- 
tained. He had that nice and detective sense, born of a 
poetic temperament, that recognized the beautiful wher- 
ever it dwelt, whether in the harmony of soimds, the 
tinge and perfume of a tlowcr. or the breathing forms 
that meet us in life. His long and intimate association 
with the leading men of his time; his appreciation of 
character and memory of incidents, with his graphic and 
dramatic power of description, often rendered his con- 
versation always remarkable, a series of living pictures, 
sometimes in good-natured caricature, often strongly 
sketched, and oftener mellowed and softened by the re- 
grettul memory of the artist. 

Mr. Pearce was a native of that proud southern land ; 
proud of that land, and proud of his nativity ; and that 
land may well recognize and mourn him as one of the 
noblest outgrowths of its stimulating soil. 

To him, and to others like liim, this war of rel)ellion 
was more than it can be to us of the more favored 
northern States. To us it is a threat of the dismember- 
ment of our country and the destruction of our govern- 
ment, which we may redeem by telling down the price 
in the rich red drops of our own and our children's l)lood. 
All tliis, dreadful as it is, was the war to him, and in- 
finitely more. Loyalty to the Union, by which lie stood, 
was treason to tln^ IViendships and cherished associations, 
the memories, hopes, and aspirations of a liietime ; and 



success to either [)arty would Ijc, in some sort, a disaster 
that his heart must mourn. God help souls so sorely 
tried. To him was given no prophet's eye to discern, in 
this awful struggle, one of the world's great convulsions, 
by which the generations of fnen are purged and purified 
for a renewed and better career. In the roar and shriek 
of battle and the wild wail of woe which filled all the 
land, he could detect no rythmic voices chantino^ the ijreat 
hymn of human progress and hope. The convulsions 
were the premonitory throes of dissolution, and the voices 
the cries of universal despair. Through no vista came 
a ray of hope, and nowhere beckoned a hand to safety. 
But night interminable, without stars or hope of dawn, 
draped the earth as with its funeral pall. He had seen 
his native Virginia desecrated and despoiled, discrowned, 
and given over to a most living desolation. He had seen 
the old friends and companions of his life and manhood 
come in the fierce array of battle, and invade the soil of 
his Maryland, and leave their red footprints burnt into 
its soil, so that forgetfulness may never efface them, and 
leaving wounds so deep as to defy the surgery of time 
itself So he turned him from all outward thinifs to that 
hiner life and light, and died with their halo on his brow 
and their hope in his heart, leaving his memory to his 
children, his history to his country, and the lesson of his 
life to those who may profit by it. 



Address ofMi: Morrill, of Vennonf. 
Mr. Speaker: Soon after my arrival here at the begin- 
ning of my service, it was my fortune to have quarters 



»Ol 



J- 



iB- 



52 OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 



at the same house and table with Senator Pearce, and 
froni that niuaicut our social relations were of the most 
kindly character, and, perhaps, he might have allowed me 
to say intimate. 

Senator Pearce, possessing a conunanding intellect, 
possessed, also, great aptitude for acquirement in many 
directions, embracing science, literature, and agriculture, 
as well as politics and constitutional law ; and there were 
happily blended in him the habitsof a scholaranda man 
of affairs. I have met with few men who ai)peared to 
me to be better furnished with the qualiiications which 
adorn and make useful a statesman, a legislator, or a man. 

In social intercourse he was conspicuous Ibr his atllu- 
ence of intbrmation. anecdote, and ready wit. The table 
was always a season of enjoyment, and he participateil 
in current topics of conversation with as much zest as he 
engaged in graver debate. His language was ever chosen 
with much elegance and precision, and his manners were 
always gentlemanly. He adhered to friends, regardless 
of party boundaries, with a tenacity that never taltered. 
As a citizen of Maryland, when others wavered, he stood 
lirmlv for the Union and the Constitution. 

But, Mr. Speaker, I merely rt)se to say that, in the 
death of the ilistinguishcd senator, I felt that 1 had lost 
a valued iViend. 



The (picstion was taken on tiie resolutions, and they 
were agreed to : and thereupon (,at three o'clock p. m.,) 
the House adjourned. 



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